Review time again!!! Fascination 9-19-09

[Hockey Addict]

Hey everyone!! I am going to start my review tonight and try to finish it tomorrow, at the latest on Tuesday....

 

This is our 2nd cruise.... both of them have been on the Fascination. We live about 15 minutes away from the port in Jax... it's so close for us to sail on the Fascination it's like a no-brainer to sail again on her!

 

I can be long winded at times.... sorry if I go on and on... I'll try not too.... Here's a little info on us.... I'm Stef (36) and DH is Steve (34).... last year we sailed with a friend of ours but this year Steve and I did one on our own.

 

Last year we were in the Sensation dining room and had Charnel as the head waiter and Samson as our assistant waiter. We loved Samson soooo much! I have kept in contact with him since our last cruise.

 

Samson was suppose to be on the Imagination in Miami and DH didn't want to drive down there so we had booked the Inspiration out of Tampa... when Samson emailed me and told me that he would be on the Fascination again and that he had been promoted to head waiter!!! So of course we changed our reservation to sail with him again! My next priority was to be at his table! More on that later.....

 

Day 1 Embarkation

 

We told ourselves that we would leave our house at about 10:30am to head to the port. My parents would drop us off so we didn't have to pay to park. We were set and ready to go and so antsy we left at about 10:10am. At 10:25am we were at the port and the porter was loading our luggage onto his dolly.

 

We walked straight into the port building. We showed our fun pass and ID's and walked right through to the x-ray machines then to get our Sign and Sail cards. No lines, no waiting! We did have to fill out a paper that we weren't close to anyone with the swine flu and we haven't had flu like symptoms recently. Do you really think people would admit to that!?!? There was a wedding party that was already checked in... and we walked over to the first section of chairs that would be the first group to board!

 

The couple next to us stopped one of the Carnival workers and asked a couple questions. After they were done I asked if it were their first cruise and it was.... They were super excited and I answered all the questions they had for me. I offered for them to follow us up to the Lido deck and they happily accepted. So we chatted until it was finally time to get onboard!

 

11:30 on the dot they started with the VIP's and the wedding party. We were the next group. We took our embarkation picture... then our sign and sail picture and our first DING! I was super excited... I couldn't stand it! We were then walking up the gangway with our new friends Dottie and Jim. We stopped and watched the amazing look in their eyes when they were looking down onto the Empress Deck. Then out to the Lido we go! We told them there was food outside on the Lido then took them into the Coconut Bar and Grill area for more buffet's, pizza and Deli. We told them if they wanted to join us for lunch then we could meet at a nearby table. They went and grabbed some pizza and met us back at the table.

 

After we finished eating I checked my phone and realized that I missed a call from Honey. Honey was part of our little roll call who was doing a b2b. This was her and her DH's 2nd leg of it. She told me where they were and that they had Barbara who was doing a b2b2b with them... yes.....3 cruises in a row... I am STILL jealous of that!! I told her that I had met a couple in the port building and said we would meet them where they were. So we set off to meet. We sat back and talked and enjoyed eachothers company. It was a lot of fun. They filled us in on what happened their first trip (s) and we invited Dottie and Jim to meet us for sail away on the funnel deck.

 

At 1:30pm DH and I went to scope out our stateroom. But on the way down we noticed that there were people standing by the Sensation dining room waiting to talk with the Maitre 'D. There were only a couple people in line so we decided to go there first. I had asked John if he could try to get us seated at Samson's table in the dining room and he said that he would send the request to the ship. When I got my S&S card I realized that we were assigned to the Sensation dining room.... NOOOOOO!!!! Samson was in the Imagination dining room!!!!

 

We waited a short time and before we knew it, it was our turn to beg... uhhhh I mean ask, Maitre 'D K to PLEEEEEEEASE move us to Samson's table. When I asked him he smiled.... I said we HAD to be there.... and he told us that he was friends with Samson and he looked to see what he could do.... The Bar manager came in and asked "K" for a reservation for the night goofing around. He introduced himself to us and I asked if G-Man was still onboard. He said he had moved to a different ship. G-Man was a awesome drink waiter on the Lido... we would miss him! So "K" turned to us and said.... no problem.... filled out a card and we were set to go! I wanted to kiss him!!

 

 

Now I am a happy camper and off to check out our stateroom! I had ordered the Carnival Cooler with a 6 pack of Coke, a baseball cap and a Carnival squeeze bottle and it was there waiting for us.... plus a surprise! DH ordered the Bon Voyage gift for me! DH is horrible with surprises. He can't keep surprises! He changed our banking account password online so I didn't see it... and he wrote "gas" in the checkbook so I wouldn't know... If I would have seen gas I would have questioned it because he has a company truck he drives and I would have known I didn't get gas that much! I didn't even look in the checkbook or try to go online to check the checking account.... I still can't believe he kept it a secret!!

 

So I took some pics of our stateroom. It was our first Port Hole experience. DH wanted to try them out to see how it was. We had a OV last time on the Empress deck. The window ledge is a lot deeper and I think the room was just a little bit bigger with the port holes. Not too much bigger. We were on the Empress deck again. We really like being on the Empress deck.... I think we'll stick with it!

 

 

 

 

The cooler holds a 6 pack perfectly... with no ice!

 

I was looking for our steward so we could meet him or her and ask for our cooler to be stocked with ice for the next exciting 5 days! No one was around. We stayed a bit longer and decided to go ahead and bum around a bit then come back to see if our luggage showed up. As we were walking down the hall some luggage was being delivered. I stopped and looked and there were a couple of our pieces of luggage so we went back and started unpacking. That's when we met Winai.... our steward... he told us just to call him Win. Win is VERY good and super friendly! So far we've lucked out with 2 awesome stewards! Our last piece of luggage showed up and we decided to roam around a bit before muster after we were settled in.

 

Before we knew it, it was time for Muster! Last time we had our Muster drill on our first sea day and we stayed inside. This was our first full muster drill. We grabbed our vests and were off to the Palace Theatre to meet. It went very smooth and fast... everyone was quiet and ready for it to be over. Then we had to go up to our lifeboats and line up... we were ALMOST in the front row but got stuck in the back. ughhh but it wasn't bad at all.... I would say it was about 30 minutes from start to finish.... but that included everyone going up the stairs to the deck.

 

Muster.... OVER! Let's drop off these vest's and get this party started! And that's what we did! Up to the Funnel deck and Honey, her DH, Barbara and our new "roll call" buddies were there waiting. We had a pretty small roll call but there were a lot of people in the parties. I think a total of 54 people. I had a feeling it would be a small crowd. Not a lot of people were into our roll call. But I am so glad we met our new cruise buddies! They are awesome and I look forward to talking with them for years to come..... and hopefully cruising with them again!

 

Honey and her DH

 

 

Barbara

 

[Hockey Addict]

Dottie and Jim...... a little blurry.... dang those DOD's :p

 

 

I hope they don't mind me posting their pics!! :o

 

We stayed up there until we cleared the jetties and were out into the ocean. We talked and laughed.... it was so fun and relaxing!

 

 

 

 

Honey and her DH had early seating so they took off a bit early to get ready. We all knew we would see eachother again and we took off in our own directions.

 

DH and I bummed around a bit checking out the casino. DH wanted to see if his favorite slot was still there and we wanted to see if there were any changes. Soon it was time to get ready to go see Samson.... I was so excited!!!

[Hockey Addict]

The Imagination dining room is Aft.... I remembered the routine.... even numbers on the left, odd on the right. So I made sure we were on the right side at least. (or should I say left?) We made it into the dining room pretty quickly and the head waiters and assistant waiters were lined up against the wall to take people to their tables. DH and I walked past them all looking for Samson. There he was... it was perfect... he was talking to someone on his left so he was looking away from us.... I jumped in front of him and yelled SAMSON! He turned and looked and started screaming and hugging me.... too cool!! I said.... We're at your table!!! He grabbed my hand and pulled me away towards our table DH in tow.... it was awesome!!! We were all giggling like school kids.... he didn't realize it was the 19th and he said we made his day and he was so happy.... that made me even happier.... it was so good to see him again. He hadn't changed a bit!

 

We talked for a bit and his assistant came over, Sueta from Indonesia. Samson told him that he had to take care of us because we were his American family. Later that night we found out that Sueta is in his early 40's with a 15 and a 9 year old sons at home with his wife. He looks so young.... Samson said Sueta is a Papa so we started calling Sueta.... Papa. So Sueta was now known as Papa. And by the end of the cruise the other table that they had was calling him Papa too! I had to tell Samson to go to the other table and talk to them. I didn't want them to get mad at him or him to get into trouble.... I snapped a pic of him.... Samson showing me the love.... heheheee

 

 

Maitre 'D "K" was making his rounds. He remembered us right away and Samson told him we were his American family not to mess with us.... awesome!! I told Samson that he was the one to make sure that we were at his table and he thanked him. We were at a 8 top window seat. The next night we found out that there were suppose to be some crew sitting with us but Samson said he didn't want to worry about them with us there so he asked for them to sit elsewhere... so we had the table to ourselves the entire cruise.... it was pretty cool!

 

We had a great dinner and got to talk quite a bit with him. We found out that he was working breakfast and lunch on the Lido this time, not the dining room. So we told him we would come look for him in the morning.

 

Back to our stateroom for our first towel animal....

 

 

A crab! And not just a crab but a blue crab!

 

After dropping off my camera and the cam corder we hit the decks... Of course we stopped at the casino and just roamed around until the Welcome Aboard show.... we were finally onboard.... it felt like we were back home again... it was so comfy being back onboard!

[Hockey Addict]

Up next..... our first Fun Day at Sea.....

 

 

 

Beautiful weather and beautiful waters surrounding us!

[tdogcruiser]

Thanks for the cruise log - very enjoyable and detailed, feel like I'm there....we are getting ready to go on October 31.....can't wait. Looking forward to reading further posts.....

[cruz.n.carebear]

Great start! I was on her in January for my first and loved the Fascination! I can't wait to sail her again after her renovation. Who is the cruise director now??

[Hockey Addict]

Great start! I was on her in January for my first and loved the Fascination! I can't wait to sail her again after her renovation. Who is the cruise director now??

 

Trevor is on vacation and Felipe "WooHoo" Couto is there for a couple months until Trevor comes back...

[Hockey Addict]

Saturday September 20, 2009... Fun Day at Sea

 

We set our room service ticket on the door the night before and requested it to be delivered between 6:30am and 7am. Our wake up call came at 6:30 and about 3 minutes later our coffee, bagel and crossants were delivered. We watched a little tv, hit the showers and went up to the Sensation dining room for breakfast. We really like breakfast in the DR. It was really good of course... I love the ham and cheese omlette's!

 

After breakfast we went up to the Lido deck to see if we could find Samson and Papa. They were in the Coconut bar and grill. We talked to them for a bit then sat on the outside of the grill on the open deck and relaxed for a bit watching the water. We went up to the Verandah deck to take some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop the casino.... We tried our luck again and won about $20.

 

OK so I am cheating again and using my capers to remember what we did during the days....

 

10am was a General Trivia Challenge.... I want a ship on a stick! I was going to try hard to win one this trip. Well.... I guess this wasn't going to be the time.... we lost... badly....

 

10:30 was bingo also in the Palace Lounge so we stayed and tried our luck there... nope.... loser!

 

Let's go waste more money! Slot tourney was at noon at this time I didn't make it onto the board. Oh well... it wasn't meant to be! But it was a lot of fun!

 

Off to Lido for a little bite. Pizza and Rueben time and a little ice cream to top it off. It was very good of course! No Samson and Papa so we went up to the Lido to find a spot for the hairy chest comp. We didn't get to see it last time. It was pretty funny. One guy had as hairy of a chest as a newborn baby. But you could tell he was having fun!

 

After that we just wandered around again. We found our pictures from Embarkation and after dropping them off in our room we ended up in the casino again. There we ran into Dottie and Jim. They were having a lot of fun. We had sat with them for the Welcome Aboard show the night before. Dottie was feeling a bit queezy then but today she was fine.

 

At 5pm the "Captains Celebration" took place. $1 off of drinks. We decided to skip it. We saw on the tv the introductions to the crew though. It was pretty funny, after Captain Tumminello was done and Felipe was coming to get the mic from him, Captain flipped it to him in the air and Felipe caught it. Good catch! I was impressed.... he had launched it pretty far in the air!

 

Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner. On the way to the dining room we stopped and got a couple pictures taken. We passed Dottie and Jim on the way as they were going to the other dining room. I still think it's so cool how you keep running into people over and over again!

 

Dinner time.... Samson was there ready for us.... I told DH that when the photographers came in I wanted to try to get a pic of us with Samson and Papa if they weren't busy at the time. Luckily they weren't busy!

 

It was elegant night so DH got the Prime Rib and a lobster tail. I did the flat iron steak and a lobster tail... and of course the WCMC! I also got it the first night.... I had to.... the first bite was heaven... I missed it so much!!

 

Samson asked what cabin we were in and I wouldn't tell him. So he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and said.... E3.... ok fine... then he told us how the crew bar was one deck below near our room. I said good, I'm gonna sneak down there! I wish... that would be fun I bet!

 

We were saying our goodbyes for the night and we told Samson we were going to go change and hit the piano bar.... he said he would see us in a little bit.... and sure enough there he was cutting through to go downstairs. We went into the piano bars a couple nights but it was pretty dead in there. There were other activities going on that kept people away. The shows and the comedian kept it quiet in there I think. But the people that were there were fun and Lorraine from Canada has a great voice and has us all join the fun!

 

About 1:30 am we decided to take a stroll on the open decks and then head back to our room. HMC was coming up in the morning and we were super excited about it.... we love it there!!!

[Hockey Addict]

Here are some more shots from Sunday....

 

I love sitting and watching the wake...

 

 

I took a couple shots out of the port hole before heading to the DR

 

 

 

Samson waiting for us in the dining room....

 

 

Towel animal time!! This was the first time our steward used our stuff in the room with his towel animals! I was so excited!! It took me a second to figure out it was a frog! Win liked using our blue beach towels to make his animals.

 

 

 

 

Our Past Guest invitations were also there waiting for us.... too cool! I was excited about that!

[mouche]

I too loved the Fascination, it was our first cruise!!!

[Hockey Addict]

Monday September 21, 2009

 

Welcome to BEAUTIFUL Half Moon Cay!

 

No room service this morning! Our wake up call was at 6:30 again and we showered and got ready for heaven...... HMC. We were still moving though! hmmmm... then a little bit later we heard some strange noises... it was us turning a bit then the anchor... we had just gotten there. It wasn't REAL loud but you heard it, that's for sure.

 

We headed to the DR for breakfast and headed down to get our bag and then to deck 3 to tender out to the island. We got off the elevator, dinged out and right onto the tender. There were no lines!

 

On the tender looking up at home....

 

 

 

 

 

I had to get my mom a conch shell and we really didn't want to get off of the ship in Nassau so we stopped at the little stores to see if they had some there. They didn't... so we now knew we would have to get off of the ship in Nassau just for a little bit for that.

 

They had something new in HMC. There was a fish tank that had oysters in it. You choose which oyster you want.... you pick it out yourself with some tongs and the pearl inside was free with a purchase of a charm. The charms started at $19. Each oyster was said to have a pearl. If it didn't then you could choose again. She said there were white, black and pink pearls in there. I told DH I would think about it.... off to the beach we go!!

 

I know everyone has pretty much seen this picture before.... last time we were anchored in a different spot so we didn't get this photo op.... we got it this time though.... I'll say it again.... this sign is 1000% accurate!

 

 

We made our way down the beach a bit and found our spot. It was right by the massage hut and near cabana #1. It really seemed like there wasn't a lot of people on the island.... the tide was in and the first row of loungers were getting water from the tide under them. We decided on taking the second row.

 

Our view from our seats...

 

 

The Captain had made an announcement that we had a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms.... but it never rained a drop! We got situated in our chairs and ordered our first DOD, Bahama Mama pretty early... it was definatly before 11am... We didn't care... it is vacation... and this place just calls for it!

 

So we hung out in the chairs for a bit putting suntan lotion on and enjoyed our first DOD... then it was time to get into that beautiful water.... it was a little cool but you got use to it really fast. Basically you can just repeat that last sentance.... we hung out in the chairs, ordered a drink and went out into the water.... repeat.... repeat... repeat.... there was a photographer in the water taking pics of everyone with the ship behind them.... so we also took that photo op... bought it too...

 

I could tell DH was getting red and you could see I was getting a bit of sun too. It was between 1:30 and 2pm that we decided to go get something to eat. That is when I knew I was getting toasty when I put my cover up on... so we decided we would eat, then head back to the ship to shower.... It was kinda late and the only thing left really was burgers and hot dogs...

 

We decided to try our luck at a pearl... why not... when would I ever have the chance to do this again? Well, maybe next year, but anyway.... I picked out a charm and to my surprise it was one of the $19 ones. I usually pick out the most expensive! I grabbed my pearl and she opened it for me.... it was a white one.... I knew it would be... there weren't any colored ones probably... but it was pretty cool... it's a really good sized pearl. A little girl picked one out after me and hers was a bit smaller... So I think I did pretty good!

 

So after that back to the ship after a couple more pics!

[Hockey Addict]

 

 

 

 

After we were finished getting 500 lbs of sand off of us we went up to take some pics of the island

 

 

 

We made our way up to the Verandah deck aft to watch sail away... so sad

[Hockey Addict]

 

After a bit we ran into Dottie and Jim again... I forgot to mention we were near them on the island and chatted for a bit..... After all those DODs and sun we were a bit tired so we went back to our room to relax for a few before getting ready for our first Past Guest Party. I told DH if I fell asleep to wake me up at 7pm... the party was at 7:20pm... that would be plenty of time to get changed.... guess what.... yep, you guessed it... I fell asleep and DH fell asleep... All of the suddon I heard... OH CRAP... wake up!! It's 7:10!! So that was me jumping up and changing real fast as DH was saying sorry over and over again... it's ok... we can do it!! :)

 

So we changed and headed to the past guest party. They invited people up onto the stage for a challenge to win a prize.... sure why not... remember I want a ship on a stick!! There were about 40 of us up there lined up.... yeahhhhhh.... big mistake.... they said we had to do the electric slide and one of those other line dance thingy's that I don't know! We quickly made it to the back of the stage.... It was fun though... not a lot of us knew what we were doing! Wanna know what our prize was? All you can eat pizza and ice cream on the Lido 24 hours a day.... yeahhhh... aren't we special??

 

Felipe came up on stage and talked for a bit and welcomed us home.. They showed the video that I heard about.... and Felipe wanted us to cheer for the ship that we've been on.... a huge cheer came over us of course for the Fascination! A few free drinks and some munchies and it was time to go to see Samson and Papa.... with a couple of drinks in tow... geez... I think I consumed the most alcohol this day!

 

It was showtime again tonight.... The lights start blinking.... the whole dining room explodes with applause.... and you see all the waiters and assistants leaving us.... Then I hear...... Showtime, Samson.... a couple minutes later the music starts and just like the other nights Samson leads a whole group of the staff down our row to the center of the dining room clapping and smiling....

 

After Maitre 'D K talks for a bit they all go back to their areas and Samson is trying to drag me up to dance... I wasn't falling for it... I knew Steve was about to record this!! One lady that was at Samsons other table was trying to get me to get up... she was saying I was just dancing with her at the past guest party... so Samson wouldn't let up... but I wouldn't do it... I wanted to see this... I knew it was one of the new songs (they also did Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire)... Flow Rider!! I'm tellin you... it was awesome... I'm going to have to upload Samson dancing... he is good! Are you guys tired of hearing about Samson??? :o Sorry.... he's our bud!

 

Papa Dancing

 

 

 

After dinner it was time to change and towel animal time....

 

 

Another trip to the casino and I really can't remember what else... heheheee... Bahama Mama........ :D

[mississauga]

I love your navy towel animals. They are so different and cool! :DWas it only your room steward who did this or do all the room stewards on Fascination do this? The only ones I have seen nicer than these were the ones our room steward made for my boys back in 1992 on the Ectasy. He used their t-shirts and sunglasses, etc:D

[sylvasta]

Marking my spot! I was the one who re-vived your old review, which I loved reading! Enjoying this one too. Thank you so much for taking your time to do this! :D

 

I also wonder about the towel animals.....I have only seen ones made with white towels and maybe a pair of sunglasses or two on our cruises on the Glory, Liberty, Valor and Freedom.

[Hockey Addict]

I love your navy towel animals. They are so different and cool! :DWas it only your room steward who did this or do all the room stewards on Fascination do this? The only ones I have seen nicer than these were the ones our room steward made for my boys back in 1992 on the Ectasy. He used their t-shirts and sunglasses, etc:D

 

This was the only time I have seen them make the towel animals with the beach towels.... it was pretty cool! I bet that would be neat seeing them made of t-shirts!!

 

Marking my spot! I was the one who re-vived your old review, which I loved reading! Enjoying this one too. Thank you so much for taking your time to do this! :D

 

I also wonder about the towel animals.....I have only seen ones made with white towels and maybe a pair of sunglasses or two on our cruises on the Glory, Liberty, Valor and Freedom.

 

Hi there!! I freaked out when I got a message that my old review had a reply on it! That is so crazy because we just got back from this one! I'm glad you liked it!! I may not be as much of a blabber mouth this time.... and also I only took 353 or so pics this time compared to last times 550+ pics! :eek: :D

 

I'll be back tonight with more!

[missdebi]

Hey Stef-do you remember how much the massages were on HMC? We did not see them we were there last year but from these reviews I can tell we need to walk around more!!!:p

Thanks, Debi

and thanks for bringing up the WCMC-yummy!!:D

[Hockey Addict]

Hey Stef-do you remember how much the massages were on HMC? We did not see them we were there last year but from these reviews I can tell we need to walk around more!!!:p

Thanks, Debi

and thanks for bringing up the WCMC-yummy!!:D

 

Hey there cruise buddy from the past!! lol.... I tried to get DH to go get a massage on the beach because he enjoyed it on the ship the time before but he wouldn't do it because there were guys giving the massages. He said he isn't gonna let a guy touch him! I could understand... I don't think I would want a girl giving me a massage.... soooooo I don't know how much they were..... sorry!

 

WCMC.... that first bite the first night was awesome.... I had it every night except one night we skipped dessert. Samson brought me cherries foster to try one night... he said I had to try it... it was ok.... I prefer the WCMC!

[cuted126]

You had GREAT towel animals!!! The porthole shot is so cool!

[Hockey Addict]

I haven't mentioned this before... but if you see typo's... sorry... every time I try to use the spell checker it deletes everything I typed... so I don't even try anymore!

 

After dinner we hit the casino like I said in the previous entry. I really couldn't remember what we did next and I blame the Bahama Mama's for that. I wasn't walking around totally wasted, don't get me wrong... I was just feeling gooooood....

 

But now I remember a little something that we did do. There was a crew party that night after the late seating. Samson told us about it and that it was going to be in the Puttin on the Ritz. Later on we ended up on the Lido deck aft.... as we did a lot.... and I looked down and there were crew members all over the place.... they were eating and having fun down there. DH and I was just watching and we spotted Samson and Papa. The next thing I know Samson was looking up at us and waving. He came to where we were... I had to lean over the rail to hear him from the noise of the wake. We were telling him to go back to the party.... go have fun.... we're not there.... all the other crew members were looking up at us waving then... I said.... go Samson.... waved and walked away.... It was kinda cool seeing all the crew having fun. After reading Cruise Confidential I had all kinds of visions in my head as we walked away of what they were going to do for the night...... if you know what I mean! ;)

 

 

 

Tuesday September 22, 2009

 

Nassau

 

So the plan was we would stay onboard in Nassau. We had no luck getting a conch shell in HMC for my mom so we had to go ashore to get one for her.

 

Last time we were in Nassau we didn't like it at all. Well, this time was different!

 

We woke up about 7am and after getting ready and applying lotion to all the sunburnt parts of our bodies headed to the dining room for breakfast. My ear lobes are still peeling as I type this.... that is all that is peeling on me though. All the other red areas turned into a tan! WOOHOOO!

 

After breakfast we decided to go up and see what the weather was like and check out the other ships around us. We already knew we were in the last spot and would have the furthest walk. We had been watching the dredger out of our port holes earlier before we headed to breakfast.

 

It was nice and toasty out! And with the sunburns... it was even toastier! I took a few pics of Atlantis... just because I am a camera freak... and a few others.....

 

 

The dreadger... DH loved watching that thing work... it was kinda neat watching the water get lighter and lighter as the sand was being kicked up.

 

 

It was still kind of hazy out this morning

 

 

See all the light spots from the sand being stirred up?

 

 

The Sensation was next to us.... here's a shot of her new water slide!

 

 

We went back to our room and dropped off the camera.... I grabbed the cam corder instead because I HAD to get on video of one of the water girls or guy yelling "cold water one dollah" as a joke for one of my friends. was pretty glad I grabbed it!

 

We decided to walk all those WCMC's off instead of taking the hot crowded tram to town. It wasn't a bad walk... just the sun beating down on my ears and cooking my shirt to my sholders... other then that... it was fine.

 

As we approached the city I was ready to say No thank you... and I did... but not as many times as I had expected. Luckily there was a large group in front of us and we slipped right past them as all of the taxi drivers, tour guides and motor scooter people bombarded them! We walked thru the building this time... we went straight out last time... it was air conditioned in there and there was a band playing. It was pretty neat... I got a bit of it on the cam corder as they were getting people to come up and join them by playing the drums. Then we were off for the Conch shell. I was ready to be asked for my hair to be braided 100 times.... I pulled it all up to try to hide it! I can't believe it, but I was only asked 2... yes TWO times for my hair to be braided... and they didn't bug me about it after I said no thank you... This was a different Nassau!

 

We got mom's conch and were headed back to the ship when we decided it wasn't so bad there so let's just go see Hard Rock.... they were closing the steel doors as we were walking up... oh well, no biggy.

 

Back to the building and a quick stop to get a charm for a necklace I saw on our way thru and we were then heading back to the ship.... I took a little video of one of the ohsoboringships of the seas.... no one was on the rock wall. To be honest... the ship looked a little boring and blah to me!

 

Back on the ship we dropped off the goodies and started wandering. We ended up getting a salad on the Lido buffet and sat outside the Lido on the shady side. There was a nice breeze. Enough of the healthy stuff.... DH went and got us some pizza! There were sea gulls around so I started throwing them crust. Those little suckers would dive down from them and grab the crust then circle back around and sit on the rail waiting for more. We had one sea gull watching us.... but soon enough there was a flock of them.... Straight outta the movie... they were all there staring us down!!!

[Hockey Addict]

So we were sitting there relaxing when I heard a familiar voice say... there you are.... you ARE still alive!! I turn around and look and there is Honey! We hadn't seen her and her DH since sail away... I knew we would find eachother eventually! I told her to join us... she had to find DH first.... then there he was.... he thought we were lost too!

 

So we hung out for quite some time talking and catching up. Then the invasion of the sea gulls started again. There was a tray left on a table and some of the sea gulls were going to go for it. They started on the railing and then started making a bunch of noises... kinda like daring eachother to go for it first.... well, one of them finally went for it and then a bunch followed... there were fries, onion rings, chicken nuggets, tortilla's all over! One of them had a big chunk of a chicken nugget and took off flying with it. There were a ton of others following it trying to get that chicken nugget away from him! It was funny watching them flying in almost figure 8's along side the ship. It was pretty cool!

 

(I forgot.... we went and watched the movie in the Puttin on the Ritz lounge before we went up to the Lido deck to eat.... The Proposal was showing. It was kinda funny)

 

Pretty soon we said our "bye for now" to Honey and her DH.

 

We went back to get our cam corder and take advantage of a nearly empty ship to record some area's... our own little tour.

 

We just hung out until dinner not doing much of anything... We later headed back to the Lido to find Samson and talked for a bit... then when he had to go back to work we just relaxed in the shade.... DH was still loving the dredger for some reason....

 

Here comes a REALLY drunk guy... being helped down the peir by 2 other drunk guys... but the REALLY drunk guy was TOASTED! There was no way he could walk on his own! It was funny trying to watch him take one step down off of the curb. His knees wanted to buckle under him!! He made it though without falling.... and I don't know how he made it up the gangway... it can be a little steep!

 

A little bit later an ambulance was pulling up with it's lights on. They parked in front of the gangway and 2 guys were greeted by one of our pursor staff. They went back onboard. A couple minutes later they came out for the stretcher... a bit later there was an older gentleman being taken off the ship on the stretcher. His wife was walking behind him.... with some of the pursor staff.... holding suitcases. The poor things.... I don't know what happened... but I felt really bad for them. One of the Pursor staff wrote down the license plate number of the ambulance. I thought that was a pretty good thing for them to do!

 

So we relaxed... had a couple drinks.... took another stroll until it was time to get ready for dinner....

[Hockey Addict]

You had GREAT towel animals!!! The porthole shot is so cool!

 

Thanks!!! I actually took a bunch of pics out of the port hole because I thought it was cool... I just didn't want to bore everyone with a ton of them!!

[Hockey Addict]

Back to the dining room for dinner. Samson asked why I didn't get my hair braided this time.... I can't believe he remembered that I did that last time out of all the people he see's! I wanted to do it but I just didn't want to spend over $100 to do it again. :eek: Don't get me started on that... it still aggrivates me!!

 

We were still in Nassau and they had the drapes open tonight. And our view was that dredger again with the white house behind it.... you know the one, right?

 

We were enjoying dinner, Samson and Papa and I looked out the window... we were under way! WOOO HOOO!!! Oh wait... that means it's almost over.... that sucks.... Reality was starting to kick in... we would have to say goodbye the next night... I tried not to think about it... I started tearing up.... Not yet... I refuse to cry already!!!

 

After dinner we changed and headed out and about... probably more of the same.... casino, lido, verandah, just taking it all in...

 

We didn't do any of the shows this time. They were the same as last time.

 

We decided to go check out a gift shop by the Palace Theatre.... a show was starting... and I heard a woman singing Minnie the Moocher.... I love that song... so we stepped in to check it out. There was a circular booth open to our left so we grabbed a seat. Tia Thompson was performing.... singer/comedian. She has a good voice and she is really funny! She had invited 3 guys up on stage and they were going to become part of the act. She had them in women's wigs with boah's and had them singing... it was too funny! If she is on one of your cruises.... go see her! I'm glad we ended up seeing the show!

 

After Tia was done, Tony Esposito was up next... we saw him last time too. He had a bit of new material... but he was still funny!

 

After more roaming around we headed back to our room to get ready for our last fun day at sea....

 

But first.... TOWEL ANIMAL TIME!!!!

 

 

I'm not sure what he is, but he has his arms crossed under his head relaxing on a pillow! I thought he was adorable too!

 

 

Next up..... our last fun day at sea.... :(

[Payd]

Great review Stef!!

 

Love the towel animal pictures - neat with the beach towels.

[Hockey Addict]

I just popped over to Cuted's review from our sailing and she reminded me about the rain on the deck party.... there was a huge congo line starting but I was too afraid I would bust my butt on the slippery deck and matts!

 

The capers from Nassau has our cruise director's name listed as Flipper!!!

 

Later on this night there was a band playing on the Lido deck... I'm talking about 1:30am and later... playing rock and roll and some heavy stuff... it was pretty neat! I never thought I would hear Metallica or Guns and Roses on a cruise ship!

 

Pssst... Honey... what is the name of the band that your DH said my DH looked like one of the guys? I can't remember and I forgot to look it up!